1. Field of the Invention
Systems for, and methods of, providing, a user, during a playing of a video, an identification of the performer of the character that is depicted in a video. The source of the identifying information is provided by a map of the video that identifies the performer/characters that are visually depicted within the video. The map of the video may be provided by the source that provides the video or by a source other than the source that provides the video. A source of the video may be a hard format such as a DVD or Blu-ray disc, or a soft format that is broadcasted, narrowcasted, delivered on-demand, streamed, and/or downloaded by a variety of means such as over-the-air broadcast, cable, satellite, cellular, internet, and any other means of receiving content/data. The means for playing the video comprises any device capable of playing video such as, for example, an optical disc player, a personal computer, a set box, a multimedia player, gaming device, and/or smart phone.
2. Description of the Related Art
DVDs and Blu-rays are “optical discs” capable of storing one full length motion picture in one of two layers on either side of the disc. Optical discs generally provide scene selection and subtitles and/or closed captioning in a plurality of languages. Among other features, some optical discs include multiple camera angles for a scene, and the capability to play one of a plurality of different content versions (e.g. a director's cut or unrated version and an “R” rated versions). Blu-rays provide more advanced features such as a search function that list keywords corresponding to noteworthy names, items, and actions, and enable a user to select a keyword to retrieve segments matching the keyword selection.
Devices capable of playing optical discs provide for, among other features, fast-forward, fast-rewind, skip-forward or skip-backwards by chapters, turn on/off subtitles, subtitle and audio language selection, camera angle selection, and optical disc menu navigation to select, for example, multiple content versions.
While the optical discs formats provide many capabilities and functions exceeding those provided by, for example, conventional linear playback formats, many of the capabilities and functions do not fully realize the potential of a random access video playback capability that is synergistically integrated with a map of the content of the video. Optical disc playback devices do not provide a readily accessible identification of a performer/character depicted in a segment within a video. These deficiencies are not addressed by the many sources that provide a listing of the performer/characters present in a video, including, for example, the beginning and ending credits in a video, information in optical disc packaging, video listings, and a great variety of web sites, or the various sources that may identify performer/characters present in the clips of a video.